Eventually I grew sick of the whole thing and tried to kill the country off. I almost succeeded. And in a way, I'm glad I tried, because it led to Erik coming back and putting it back on its feet. In another way, I wish I hadn't given up hope that easily. Whatever. The nation was miraculously reborn, Erik fixed the political problems, Ari fixed the technological problems, and a bunch of people from other countries I'd never even heard of gave us a new citizen base.
So here I was, disillusioned, embarrassed, and sort of unpopular over the whole attempt-to-kill-off-Shireroth thing. And the country's leadership told me pretty plainly they thought it would be a good idea if I didn't rejoin, because I'd only get in the way of the exciting new young blood who were going to bring Shireroth to greater heights than my generation ever did. And for a while, I planned to listen to them.
But eventually the pressure to come back became too great. As a lot of people observed, you can't just quit micronationalism. But I didn't want to show my face in a nation where I wasn't wanted, and I didn't want to discourage the whole "let's build a new Shireroth free from the ways of the past" atmosphere. And I didn't want to be judged as Scott of Hyperborea, the guy who's been here forever and is practically a piece of furniture, and who has to be treated with respect whether he deserves it or not. If I was going to relate to all the new people, I wanted to do it on an equal playing field, and I wanted to do it without everyone pigeonholing me as the bitter old man whose spirit was crushed by the slump era.
So I joined up under a fake name. Sock puppet, paper doll, call it what you will. I didn't break any laws; I did the whole thing honorably. I filled out the citizenship form with truthful information, and my Scott of Hyperborea account remained a non-citizen. I used all the old SHINE tricks to cover my tracks, and I got in without a hitch. From there on, it was loads of fun. I lived the carefree, high-rolling life of a micronational newbie, who cared about stuff and had positions on issues and did work and got emotional and all that stuff I haven't done in years.
Well, a week or two ago, I got accepted to medical school. I'll be leaving for Ireland in a week to go study at University College Cork. I want to make a lot of lifestyle changes to focus on study, and one of those is spending less time at Shireroth. Scott of Hyperborea isn't a problem, but my other account took lots of time and emotional energy, and I'm afraid now he's unsustainable. Even though I really like him. Even though, through him, I got a chance to have close relationships with a lot of you whom Scott never really got to talk to, and even though he gave me an opportunity to be a part of Shirerithian life in a way I haven't experienced since the old days.
*Scott takes out a locked jewel box, opens it, and pockets the note inside*
And that's why Yvain Wintersong sailed away so suddenly. I feel bad for leaving Brookshire high and dry, but I'm very happy with the little I was able to do in my time there, and I'm very confident Krasniy will be able to continue and improve upon my work there.
If any of you feel tricked or angry, well, my intent was not to embarass you, and I can only say I'm sorry.
I'm going to re-immigrate this week. I think I will join the Duchy of Straylight if they will have me. Hesam's well-established as Count of Hyperborea, Elwynn's boring without any Baronies, and although high fantasy has its good points, after all that time in Brookshire I'm ready for something different. I probably won't be around that often anyway, because of the med school. If I am, kick me.
I'd like to thank Benkern and Andreas for the help and support they gave Yvain. No, he didn't need it, but he had to pretend to need it to look believable, and you were there to give it to him. I am sure that real newbies will be very grateful to have people like you around, as are all Shirerithians. Some other people like Hypatia's Mom, Ari, Krasniy, and Mike Fors also proved their extreme niftiness. And there were a few of you who knew and didn't let on. I'm not going to name you in case you don't want to be named, but thank you. You made my year much more interesting.
Anyway, Yvain will keep his promise to return to congratulate the Goldshirerithians when they get their own Duchy. Until then, I'm afraid you guys are stuck with plain old me
And from someone whose alter egos once ran into the dozens, you get no scolding from this quarter!
j/k
